Frozen Hot Chocolate

Summer.

I'm over it.

Does that make me a bad person?

Is it sacrilege to say I'm counting down the days to boots and leaves and Fall treats and baking with pumpkin?

Is it weird that I bought Christmas presents yesterday?

{These questions are all rhetorical.  Unless you happen to agree with me, I mean.}


Today I was so bummed to find no apple cider at the store and no Halloween M&Ms at Target.  I had to step back a little and re-evaluate my life a little and pull out my calendar book to check which month it was.

I went home and decided to compromise with this recipe. It's frozen so it's obviously summery.  But it's also hot chocolate which is a Fall/Winter treat.  Best of both worlds.  (Sing Hannah Montana here.)

Also, it's delicious.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

-3 oz Cadbury dark chocolate, finely chopped  (This is one bar minus two or three pieces. Sub another brand if you wish.  I found Cadbury at Target.)
-4 1/2 tsp sugar
-2 tsp Ovaltine or other hot chocolate mix (I use Caotina)
-1 1/2 cups milk, divided (I use skim and sub about 1/4 c of heavy cream for some of the milk if I have it)
-2 to 2.5 c ice
Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Add sugar and hot chocolate mix and whisk until completely combined.  If sugar does not dissolve completely, return to microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds, just until sugar is dissolved.  Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup milk until smooth.  Cool in freezer until icy and very cold- almost frozen.

In a blender, place the remaining 1 cup of milk, the icy chocolate mixture, and  ice. Blend on high until VERY smooth. Pour into mason jars or other glasses and top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings*, or Pirouette sticks.

If you have leftovers you can dump the slushy mixture into ice cube containers and store the cubes in a bag once frozen.  To make drinks, blend a bag of cubes. (You may want to let it sit out on the counter for an hour or so to "melt" so your blender doesn't struggle.)

*To shave chocolate- just use a vegetable peeler along the side of a somewhat soft bar of chocolate- leftover Cadbury dark works great.